Lowes and Home Depot’s new AI-powered license plate readers are meant to catch thieves, but experts worry about privacy
https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/lowes-home-depots-ai-powered-124500639.html
Publish Date: 2026-05-21 08:45:00
Source Domain: finance.yahoo.com
Home improvement giants Home Depot and Lowe’s are expanding the use of their AI-powered, automated license plate readers to help combat shoplifting and organized retail theft. Known as ALPR, the technology captures images of vehicles and their license plates as they arrive at their stores.
Produced by Flock Safety, the ALPR is the same system used by ICE to target immigrants (1). Home Depot (2) and Lowe’s (3) have both denied claims that they are sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection.
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“We’ve invested quite a bit of technology at different parts of the business in front of the customer and behind the scenes to help us to manage this, and we take a unique and differentiated way,” Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said at a Goldman Sachs conference (4).
How technology works and why retailers want it
In June 2023, Home Depot CEO Ted Decker told CNBC’s Squawk Box that retail theft was a big problem for retailers. Companies reported a 93% increase in the number of incidents per year when compared to 2019, according to a National Retail Federation study (5).
To cut down on their shrink (the amount of merchandise lost from the manufacturer to the customer), Home Depot and Lowe’s use cameras mounted on poles that use solar panels. They scan vehicles and people as they come and go.
One case in Southern California had 14 people arrested for 600 suspected thefts from 71 stores, amassing over $10 million worth of goods. David Ahl allegedly ran a storefront called ARYA Wholesale in Tarzana in which stolen goods from Home Depot and Lowe’s were resold. He faced 48 felony charges including conspiracy, organized retail theft, grand theft, receiving stolen property and money laundering last August (6). He pled not guilty.
“They basically had been able to pull off over 600 different thefts from Home Depots in the surrounding counties,” Los Angeles County…
